Your Three Births

Books by Thomas Razzeto

Mystical 2012: Did the Maya Shamans Discover a Mystical View of Reality?

Astronomically, the first rebirth is the daily sunrise. This is just the sun reappearing to us in our physical world. Likewise, with our physical birth, each of us also appears in our physical world. Both the astronomical rebirth and the biological birth are very common. One happens every day, the other happens to everyone. With this birth, some people take on a materialist view of reality. Since they haven't had any spiritual experiences, it makes perfect sense for them to see the world devoid of an unseen creator God or any spiritual aspects at all.

The next stage of development is when the materialist has a personal experience that is beyond the explanation of their current understanding. This could easily come about through the use of the chemicals from the Bufo toad. With this new understanding, the physical world is seen as a denser expression of a more energetic yet unseen spiritual world. The flow of this spiritual energy gives rise to what comes into existence in our physical world. These spiritual energies can often be felt by people who work on tuning in to them.

The final stage unfolds when you realize that you are pure awareness - the One Awareness - and that you are not the combination of your body, mind, soul, personality and personal awareness. This re-identification as the One Awareness is the deepest shift that a human can go through. When you are born, you get an apparent identity. When you awaken to this understanding, you are reborn in the most profound way possible. Very few people have this happen to them yet I think that it happened to at least some of the ancient Maya shamans and that they intentionally created the triple rebirth metaphor and placed it on top of the astronomy of 2012 for the express purpose of helping people understand these three stages of spiritual development.

The three stages of spiritual development are:

Your start with a materialist's view

Your shift into a spiritual understanding

Your awakening to your true self as the One Awareness

As I mentioned before, many people think that 2012 is about a shift into a new golden age of world peace. Just because I don't think that the ancient Maya themselves created the calendar to predict world peace at this time does not mean that we can't create a beautiful world right now. Your desire for world peace arises from your strong feelings of compassion and love but we should not impose our desire on others. We should also be humble and acknowledge that we do not have the power to make someone else happy; we do not have the power to make someone else be at peace. That is up to them and to them alone.

Yet perhaps your attitude and action will inspire others to create deep peace and lasting joy within themselves. In this way, we all can work towards a more peaceful world. Your inspiration and offer of a helping hand to build a better world together can reach out in ways whose limits are unknown. So never give up hope and always do your best to transform both yourself and the world around you into yet an even more beautiful reflection of the divine love that comes to us all from the Source of Everything. Now, let's get back to 2012.

You Are Eternal Like the Sun

I think that the Maya personified the sun because you are like the sun. From our perspective on earth, the sun is born when it rises and it dies when it sets. But from a perspective out in space, we see that the sun is never born and it never dies; it is essentially eternal. Similarly, from the perspective of our ordinary reality, it appears as if we are born and then later, we die. Is there a different perspective, a larger framework, that reveals that our true self, our fundamental unconstructed self, is indeed also without birth or death? Are we also eternal? As I mentioned before, at birth, you get an apparent identity. When you re-identify with your true self - your pure, unchanging, eternal awareness - you are reborn in the most profound way.

I think that the Maya used a timeless metaphor on purpose to help you understand that you, too, exist beyond the boundaries of time itself. You exist as pure awareness, and time, space, energy and matter are all created within you. While many people have heard that the world is an illusion, few people have heard someone say that they themselves are also an illusion. Yes, indeed! Your personal self is an illusion!

When people hear me say that their personal self is an illusion, they think that I have just said that their personal self is not real. But remember, all illusions have a reality to them; it's just that they trick you into believing a false idea. In this case, there are at least two false ideas. One is that your personal consciousness arises out of the biochemistry of your body and brain and the second is that each personal consciousness is separate from all the others. Those ideas are completely false. Nor are you a drop of water in the ocean of God; you are the entire ocean! You are the fundamental principle of reality!

As I say in my book, Mystical 2012:

Yes, it seems like you are a separate, mortal, sentient being but you are not a being of any kind; you are sentience itself! This is the formless divine essence! This is what the gnostics focus on when they say, “Know yourself and you shall know God!”

Many of us have heard it said, “You are not a human being having a spiritual experience, you are a spiritual being having a human experience.” Of course it is wise not to put the cart before the horse but perhaps you now see why I say that you are neither the cart nor the horse! You are the awareness that holds both the human being and the spiritual being! Your eternal nature is looking out of your eyes right now, shining forever, just like the sun!

If you find my comments intriguing, perhaps you will enjoy my book, Mystical 2012: Did the Maya Shamans Discover a Mystical View of Reality? You can buy it at Amazon.com or read more of my free essays. If you like my material, please spread the word! I would rather have many people enjoy my work for free than just a few who decide to purchase it.